Films I am considering for Case Studies

1. Donnie Darko (2001) - I am considering this film as a case study, as it is a film that I enjoyed, and I feel it definitely reflects the psychological thriller genre. I would find it interesting to look at this film in more detail and analyse what establishes it as a thriller film.

2. Black Swan (2010) - This is also a psychological thriller film, which I enjoyed. I would like to use this as a case study, as it won and was nominated for a lot of awards for film making and cinematography, as well as acting.

3.Law Abiding Citizen (2009) - I would like to use this film as a case study as it is a crime thriller. This means I could compare it to 'Witness', and look into the similarities and differences between films of that era and films that are more recent.

4. Animal Kingdom (2010) - As this film is an independent film, I think it would be a good case study, as I could then compare it to a more mainstream thriller film with a higher budget, and see what similarities and differences there are in the way they establish the thriller genre.

5.Dead Man's Shoes (2004) - Although I have not yet seen this film, I have seen the trailer and I thought it established the crime thriller genre excellently. I would have to view the whole film before deciding whether or not to carry out this case study.

6.Double Indemnity (1944) - I have not yet seen this film, yet I feel it could be beneficial to use a film noir thriller classic as a case study. It would be useful to examine the differences between thriller films of this era and modern ones. Also, I would like to look at the ways the film noir style is used in modern films.

Possible Thriller Locations

I thought that this building could be quite effective for a thriller film, as it is an abandoned barn, which is falling down. There are lots of places where there are holes in the walls, which I thought would be good as we could shoot through them, someone walking past them or someone looking through them. In the correct lighting and weather, this building would have a much eerier feel.

Near the abandoned barn, there was also a derelict house. I thought this could be another effective location for a thriller, as it looked quite dark and threatening, with smashed windows and graffiti connoting a setting for crime.

I also looked inside the house and found the entrance itself looked quite frightening, as the wood from the door frame was rotting, the paint was chipping and there was rubble on the floor.

I looked closer at the stairs, and found that the walls in the house were similar to the ones in the barn; there were holes in the walls which could be effective for shooting through.

I thought this street in Norwich at night looked quite frightening, and the lighting from the street lamps makes it look shadowy and threatening. The fact that there were hardly any people here also seemed quite eerie; there was just one person walking down the street. Also, there is a vanishing point, as there is a turn in the road.

'Witness': murder scene analysis

'Witness' is a crime thriller, directed by Peter Wier. I am going to analyse the murder scene to identify aspects which establish it as a thriller film. I will start my analysis from the shot where the boy goes towards the vanishing point, as I feel this is an important shot to the scene.

This shot shows the boy leaving his mother and passing through the vanishing point: the door to the bathroom. This point is important to the scene, as it displays the mother's naivety and it gives the impression that something will happen, as the boy is leaving the safety of his mother.

As the boy enters the bathroom, it cuts to a shot of the back of a man's head. This shows that the man is the victim as showing the back of him shows vulnerability; he cannot see who is behind him until he turns around.

The scene then cuts to a point of view shot of the boy, from the man/victim's perspective. This shows the little boy is not a threat, and the victim can relax. This creates a false sense of security for the victim and audience, as both believe there is no threat, yet the killers have not yet entered the scene.

The next shot clearly establishes the set; a dingy, dim lit bathroom. The lighting is non-ambient, which creates the dim, dingy feel. The mise-en-scene has a claustrophobic feel, which can be quite threatening.

The next shot is very effective, and is used through the scene a lot. It shows the face of the boy through a crack in the door. This connotes that the boy can see out of the cubicle, and yet it would be difficult to see him unless specifically looking for him.

Next, the scene cuts to a medium close-up shot of the victim washing his face in the sink, and a person walks past. As this is a medium close-up, you do not see the face of the person walking past. This creates a threatening character.

There is a medium close-up shot of the other killer next, who turns and nods at the first one. This clearly displays that he is in charge of the crime. As this character is a black man, this scene reinforces negative racial stereotypes, which could alienate several audiences.

Next, there is a long shot of the whole bathroom, showing all three characters. Both the killers are either side of the victim, showing they have surrounded him and reflecting the claustrophobic mise-en-scene. The first killer then walks towards the door, then quickly throws his jacket over the victim's head, shocking the audience.

The scene quickly cuts to a close up shot of the victim with a jacket covering his head, and the killers arm around his neck. This and the next few shots are cut very quickly, to show how fast the crime was committed, and to create a sense of panic.

The next shot is a quick but effective shot. It is a close up shot of a knife being flicked out. This is a really threatening shot, as it is the first time the audience is made aware that there is a serious weapon involved in the crime.

There is then an extreme close up shot of the young boy's eye through the crack in the cubicle door. This shows he is watching the crime being committed, reflecting the title of the film, 'Witness', connoting this is an important scene.

The murder scene is then shown through a point of view shot from the boy's perspective. This is done very effectively, as the sides of the door were also shown in the shot, making it seem a lot more realistic. This way of showing the crime definitely displays the witnessing of the murder, as it make the audience feel like they also are witnessing the crime.

'Kill Bill Volume 1': opening scene analysis

There are many key features in the opening scene of 'Kill Bill Volume 1' that establish it as a thriller film.

Firstly, there is a sound bridge, connoting suspense, panic and tension. This anticipates the action in the next sequence, immediately putting the audience on edge and making them wonder what is happening in the scene.

The first shot is a high angle shot of a woman, who has been beaten and is bleeding. She is breathing heavily, which shows she feels threatened and frightened. This shot makes the audience want to know what happened to the woman, why she was beaten and who or what it is that she is threatened by.

During this shot, footsteps are heard on floorboards, seeming to be getting closer. This heightens the anticipation of the scene as the audience is unaware of who the person is, but assumes that they are a threat. Also, the footsteps are quite rhythmical, almost mimicking an increasing heartbeat.

The second shot is a low angle tracking shot of someone's feet walking across floorboards. This connotes a threatening character, as we are not shown the characters face. In fact, in this film, Tarantino creates an enigma, as the audience is not shown Bill's face throughout the whole film. Tarantino also does this in several of his other films, such as not revealing the contents of the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.

The scene then cuts back to the same shot as the first, and the threatening character speaks, saying “Do you find me sadistic?”. This makes the audience immediately aware that this character is the villain.

He wipes blood from the woman's face with a handkerchief with the name 'Bill' on it, signifying the importance of the character and reinforcing that he is the villain of the film. This action also seems quite patronising and degrading, reflecting his words as he speaks of how what he did to her was masochistic rather than sadistic. This also shows how he feels no remorse for what he has done.

There is a surprise element at the end of the opening, as the woman tries to speak for the first time, there is a gun shot and blood is sprayed onto the floorboards behind her head. This shows how Bill has no respect for anyone else. The fact that she says “Bill, its your baby” before he shoots her shows that he can shoot anyone with no remorse, as it is implied that she is the mother of his child.

The whole opening sequence is in black and white. Tarantino has chosen to do this as a tribute to classic thriller films, and also as an indicator of the fact that this scene is a flashback.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

We did not carry out much planning for our filming task, however I feel we did enough to have a good understanding of our storyline and the shots we would use. We made a list of different shots and the effect they would have on our film. We then chose which we would use – the ones which would have the most or best effect. We also wrote a script so we knew the basic storyline.

The 180-degree rule means that the camera cannot cross over a certain point, so that the characters stay on the same side of each other. This is in order to not confuse the audience. We found that this rule was quite difficult to follow, and made several checks and adjustments to ensure we kept to it.

We began our film with a high angle panning shot to show the character as vulnerable and to establish the location. We then used an over-the-shoulder shot as the character walked into the building. This was to make the audience feel as though they were following the character through what she was doing. We used match on action throughout the beginning of our film, as this creates an impression of continuity. For our conversation, we used shot reverse shot, as this gives the impression that the characters are facing each other as they are shot facing in opposite directions. This is where the 180 degree rule was important, as if it was broken the scene would become confusing.

In editing, I learnt how to cut out scenes that were not needed, and how to ensure the film flowed correctly. What made this simple was the linear narrative, however we changed shots a lot, which meant it was quite difficult to match it all up to be continuous.

Preliminary Task Final Cut